The Early Career Network is an initiative to bring together students and recent graduates in the mass spectrometry field. The goals of this group include: encouraging
collaboration and mentorship, identifying community resources and opportunities that are beneficial to members, and creating opportunities to network with employers.
The Early Career Network is meant to include not only scientists who are at the start of their career, but also mentors and hiring managers who are willing to share their
experience and
serve as a resource for the next-generation of scientists. There are no age limits or requirements to participate.
Johns Hopkins University, MSACL Early Career Network
1e Interests: MALDI imaging, Multi-modal imaging, MRI imaging, boimedical imaging cancer research
Ethan Yang is a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Kristine Glunde's Lab in the Department of Radiology at Johns Hopkins University. His current research focuses on combining imaging mass spectrometry with other biomedical imaging approaches to provide a more holistic approach to reserach and diagnosis. He completed his PhD under Prof. Pierre Chaurand at the University of Montreal working on elaborating new techniques to enhance the sensitivity and selectivity of MALDI-TOF imaging mass spectrometry. He obtained his B.Sc. in Biochemistry at McGill University. He is a founding member of the MSACL Early Career Network (MSACL ECN) and is now the interim Chair of the Asia-Pacific Region.
Mudita Vats
1e Interests: Imaging Mass Spectrometry, LC-MS/MS, Proteomics, Therapeutics, Microbiology
Looking for a PhD position.
Junior Research Fellow at Central pulp and Paper Research Institute Saharanpur, U.P, India. Involved in determination of microbial contaminants of food packaging paper and board.
During my M.Sc. final semester thesis I worked on a Project- ‘Acetylation; for the validation of peptide sequence using Mass Spectrometery' at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India.
Ólöf Gerður Ísberg, M.Sc.
University of Iceland/Imperial College London, MSACL Early Career Network
1e Interests: Metabolomics, Breast cancer, Imaging mass spectrometry, data science
Ólöf Gerður is a PhD student at Margret Thorsteinsdottir´s and Sigridur Klara Bodvarsdottir lab in Iceland. She is working on a collaborative project with Zoltan Takat´s lab at Imperial College London where she uses imaging mass spectrometry to identify biomarkers in breast tissue. Ólöf obtained her B.Sc. at University of Iceland in Biochemistry with focus on molecular biology. She achieved her M.Sc. at University of Copenhagen (Denmark) in Human Biology, with focus on cellular and molecular biology. She has 3 years experience working as a research assistant for both University of Iceland and University of Copenhagen as well as she did a short-term internship at the Danish pharmaceutical company, Lundbeck.
Ólöf is a current co-Chair of the MSACL Early Career Network (MSACL ECN).
Chair: Americas
Hoda Safari Yazd
University of Florida, MSACL Early Career Network
1e Interests: Metabolomics, Lipidomics, Machine Learning
Hoda Safari Yazd is a Ph.D. candidate in analytical chemistry at the University of Florida and working under the supervision of Prof. Richard Yost and Dr. Timothy Garrett. She received her B.Sc. in chemistry from Sharif University of Technology in 2015 and her M.Sc. in computational chemistry from the same school in 2017. Hoda's research at UF primarily focuses on combining analytical chemistry tools and scientific programming for the metabolomic discovery of rare disorders. She is currently working on two projects; the first project concentrates on the detection of new biomarkers in meningiomas to improve early detection of this disease by employing machine learning as a tool on mass spectrometry-based metabolomics data. The second project is focused on the characterization of rare X-chromosome deletion disorders using metabolomics and lipidomics workflows by UHPLC-HRMS on neural progenitor cells. Hoda is one of the founding members and main organizers of the MSACL Early Career Network (MSACL-ECN).
Sina Feizbakhsh Bazargani
University of Florida
1e Interests: MALDI Imaging, Metabolomics
I received my bachelor's degree in chemistry from the Sharif University of Technology, which is the most prestigious university in Iran. To pursue my scientific life as an analytical chemist, I joined the University of Florida. I am currently a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Prof. Richard Yost and Dr. Timothy Garrett. My research now focuses on finding biomarkers in pancreatic tissue by using Mass Spectrometry MADLI and DESI Imaging. Simultaneously I am using the LC-MS method to compare the data to the Imaging method by employing statistical analysis. In the future, my focus is primary on implementing machine learning into the MS-MSI analysis.
Bini Ramachandran, PhD
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1e Interests: Mass spectrometry, Proteomics, Method development and validation
I am a postdoctoral research associate at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Currently I am working on targeted method development for detection and quantification of proteins in foods which can trigger an allergic response in susceptible individuals. Considering the complexity of food matrices and the type of processing these foods have undergone, I equate my project to solving a multi-level puzzle with increasing challenges to overcome at each level. I am fascinated by the technology behind mass spectrometry and its applications, especially in field of proteomics. So far in my career I got opportunities to employ mass spectrometry and proteomics to address challenges in food allergy, cell biology, infectious disease biology, cancer biology, and bacterial strain improvement. I believe mastering in the art of mass spectrometry will open a path to apply one’s expertise in various areas, from academia to industry, from clinical labs to pharmaceutical manufacturing. I am expecting to transition out of my current postdoctoral position towards the second half of 2021. I would like to transition into a job where I can combine my passion for mass spectrometry, proteomics, and method development. I could see myself fitting well in the role of an R&D scientist in instrumentation industry, in clinical proteomics labs, or in biopharmaceutical industry. I am looking for opportunities to netwrok with people from these areas.
Chair: Europe
Erika Dorado
Imperial College London
1e Interests: Lipidomics, Metabolomics, Proteomics, Extracellular vesicles, Biomarkers, Oncology
Erika Dorado is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant at Imperial College London working on lipidomics and cancer research. She is currently studying extracellular vesicles as body fluid-based biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. Before starting her PhD, she worked on proteomics and phosphoproteomics analysis in cancer signalling pathways at the Barts Cancer Institute. Her M.Sc. was focused on -omics technologies, where she worked on analysis of protein-protein interactions using cross-linking mass spectrometry. She obtained her B.Sc. in Biology focussed on molecular and cell biology, and after that worked in the study of mutations in antimalarial and malaria diagnosis targets. She is one of the leads of the MSACL Early Career Network (MSACL ECN) and is now the interim Chair of the European Region.
Ettore Gilardoni
University of Milan
Tamas Pongracz, MSc
Leiden University Medical Center
1e Interests: Glycomics, glycoproteomics, data analysis